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A VIEW 



AMERICAN SLAVERY 



UMitntion. 



»ABTOE or TH« PIRST PREK PRESBTTEinA.N CHURCU, M«W YORK 




NEW YORK: 

JOHN 8. TAYLOR, BRICK CHURCH CHAPEL, 

OPPOSITE THE CITY HALL. 



1836. 



.■Bi. r 



ENTERED ACCORDING TO THE ACT OF CONGRESS, IN THE YEAR 
1836, BY 

JOHN S. TAYLOR, 

IN THE clerk's office OF THE DISTRICT COURT OF TH» 
CNtTED STATES, FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK. 



INTRODUCTION 



The following view of the American 
Slavery Question is the substance of two 
discourses prepared by the author in Oc- 
tober, 1835, with particular reference to 
the condition of his own church. When 
called to the pastoral care of this church, 
he found its members divided in their 
views, and disunited in their feehngs, on 
this much agitated subject. It appeared 
to him that it might be presented to their 
minds in such a manner as to gain the 
assent of all on every important point. 
With this view these discourses were pre- 
pared and delivered. The result was a 
spirit of harmony and good feeling in the 
church. They are now, with some addi- 
tions, presented to the public eye. That 
they will receive the entire approbation of 



IV INTRODUCTION. 

all Christians, he does not expect. They 
are his own views on this momentous 
question, honestly and frankly expressed. 
He has occasionally censured those whom 
he loves and esteems : he has done it 
openly, because he believes that this is 
demanded by the interests of truth. The 
only favor he asks of his readers is that 
they would suspend their judgment until 
they have perused the entire volume 
through, and then treat his arguments 
with fairness and Christian courtesy. 

It has occurred to the author that one 
expression found in the following work — 
"men are God's property," &c. — is liable 
to be misunderstood. The author does 
not mean to assert that God does, or can, 
consistently with truth and justice, treat 
men as things^ but simply that He only 
has a right to exercise unlimited control 
over them as their Creator and Proprietor. 
Their rights as moral agents are invio- 
lable in his eyes. The Author. 

New York, January^ 1836. 



THE 

AMERICAN SLAVERY aUESTION. 



SLAVERY DEFINED. 

That we may profitably discuss the 
question of American slavery, we must 
first have a clear idea of the condition of 
slavery stripped of every accompanying 
circumstance. The laws of Louisiana 
and South Carolina shall furnish us with 
definitions. 

" A slave is one who is in the power 
of a master to whom he belongs. The 
master may sell him, dispose of his person, 
his industry, his labor ; he can do nothing, 
possess nothing, nor acquire any thing but 
which must belong to his master." — Lou- 
isiana Code, Art. 3. 

" Slaves shall be deemed, taken, reputed, 
and adjudged to be chattels personal in 
1 



6 SLAVERY DEFINES. 

the hands of their masters and possessory, 
to all intents and purposes whatsoever." 
^-Laws of South Carolina — Brevard's 
Digest, 229. 

It follows, by natural consequence, 
that the master claims as his lawful pro- 
perty the oiisprino: of his female slaves, 
whoever may be their father, upon the 
same ground that the farmer does the 
increase of his flocks and herds, viz. that 
they are Jiis chattels personal. Accord- 
ingly the laws of slave-holding states 
declare that '• all the issue and offspring 
of slaves, born or to be born, shall be and 
remain for ever hereafter absolute slaves, 
and shall follow the condition of the 
mother." 

Again : since the body of the slave 
derives all its value from the mind which 
animates it, the power of the master to 
use the body of his slave as a personal 
chattel for his own advantage, necessarily 
includes the power to use his mind also for 



SLAVERY DEFINED. 7 

the same purpose. The slave has no more 
rio^ht, in the view of the slave-laws, to use 
his intellectual, than he has to use his cor- 
poreal powers, in the pursuit of his own 
individual happiness. If the acquisition 
of knowledge diminishes his value as a 
personal chattel, his owner must place 
beyond his reach all the means of know- 
ledge. Accordingly, in most of the slave- 
holding states, it is made a high crime 
and misdemeanor to teach a slave to read 
or write, or to give him any book or 
pamphlet, not even excepting the word of 
God! 
Slavery is the condition of slaves. 
The system of slavery, or the slave 
system is that system of laws which re- 
gards one portion of the community as 
slaves, and which authorizes another por- 
tion of tlie community to hold them as 
such. 

^Uave-holding is holding men as slaves 
under tbis system, and a slave-holder is 



8 MORAL CHARACTER OP 

one who holds his fellow-men as personal 
chattels. 

In the present inquiry I shall use the 
terms slave-holding, holding men in slave- 
ry, holding men as personal chattels, 
holding men as property, and holdiiig 
property in men, as convertible. Let it 
be remembered that when I speak of 
slaves, I mean human beings held as 
PERSONAL CHATTELS, agreeably to the 
definition above given ; and when I speak 
(^i slave-holders I mean those who hold 
men as slaves, and not something else. 

MORAL CHARACTER OF THE SLAVE 
SYSTEM. 

THE SYSTEM OF SLAVERY IS DIRECTLY 
OPPOSED TO THE FUNDAMENTAL LAW 
OF LOVE WHICH GOD HAS GIVEN MEN 
IN HIS BIBLE FOR THE REGULATION 
OF THEIR CONDUCT TOWARDS EACH 
OTHER. 

One form in which this law is expressed 
is the following: " Thou shalt love thy 



THE SLAVE SYSTEM. 9 

neighbor as thysdfP In direct opposi- 
tion to this, the slave system authorizes 
the master to love himself supremely, and 
to buy, sell, and use his neiglibors and 
their offspring, soul and body, as chattels 
personal, for his own private advantage. 
He may indeed treat liis slaves in some 
respects benevolently, but he will do so 
not in accordance with the spirit of the 
system, but in spile of it. 

Another form in v.'hich this great law 
of love is expressed is this : '• Whatso- 
ever ye would that 7?icn should do unto 
yon, do ye even so to the??i.'- In direct 
opposition to this, the system of slavery 
authorizes the master to do to his fellow- 
men wiiat he would not, in any case, that 
they should do to him. He may honestly 
believe that were he a slave in certain 
snpposable circumstances, (perhaps those 
of his own slaves,) he should wish to have 
his master retain over him the power of 
a guardian ; but can he believe that he 
1* 



10 MORAL CHAR'ACTER OF 

should ever be willing to be converted 
into an article of merchandise, and sub- 
jected to the despotic power of the highest 
bidder ? Impossible. 

Another form is this : " Love worketh 
no ill to its neighbor : therefore love is 
the fulfilling of the law^ In direct oppo- 
sition to this, the slave system authorizes 
the master to work the most grievous ills 
to his colored neighbor. The following 
catalogue of these ills is from the pen of 
one whom all admit to be a competent 
witness, Jeremiah Hubbard, of North Caro- 
lina, a zealous advocate of colonization. 
The same enumeration of wrongs is found 
in Stroud's Sketch of the Laws of Slavery, 
Chap. II., from which it appears to have 
been copied. 

" There can be no legal marriage among 
slaves but what can be broken by the mas- 
ter whenever it suits his passions or his 
avarice. Slaves cannot redeem them- 
selves, nor obtain a change of masters, 



THE SLAVE SYSTEM. 11 

however cruelly they may be treated ; nor 
be parties before a judicial tribunal in any 
species of action against their masters, 
how atrocious soever the injuries they 
may have received from them. The 
masters may determine the kind and 
degree of labor to which the slave shall 
be subjected, and supply him with such 
food and clothing only, both as to quantity 
and quality, as he may think proper, or find 
convenient. The master may at his own 
discretion inflict grievous scourging or 
chastisement upon his slave. Slaves have 
no legal rights of property in things real 
or personal ; whatsoever they acquire 
belongs, in point of law, to their master. 
Slaves, being personal chattels, are at all 
times liable to be sold absolutely, or mort- 
gaged, or leased at the will of the master ; 
they may be also sold by process of law 
for the satisfaction of debts of the living 
or deceased master, at the suit of creditors. 
And all the power of the master may be 



12 MORAL CHARACTER Of 

exercised not by himself only in person, 
but by any one whom he may depute as 
his agent." 

Lest I should be accused of making 
garbled quotations, I cheerfully add the 
remainder of his description. 

'• There may be mitigations to some of 
these traits of slavery by modern enact- 
ments of some of the slave-states ; this is 
about its general picture as it is legalized 
in this country; it is, however, but justice 
to add that thjse great legal powers of the 
masters are abundantly mitigated in the 
practice of latter times ; there is not near 
•he personal abuse of slaves now, gene- 
rally, that there was thirty, forty, or fifty 
years ago, and they are generally much 
better fed and clothed. A cruel master is 
now unpopular in great slave-holding 
counties, but, with all these mitiijations 
slavery is still an enormous evil-a'course 
of monstrous injustice." 

The accuracy of these statements, so 



THE SLAVE SYSTEM. 13 

far as the region in which this writer 
resides is concerned, I am not disposed to 
question. The amount of them is that 
the ^^ great legal poivers of the masters 
are abundantly mitigated in the prac- 
tice of modern timesJ^ — In other words, 
the masters J in modern times ^ do not by 
any means work all the ills to their 
neighbors which this unrighteous system, 
authorizes. It may be said with truth 
that supreme selfishness, instead of love, 
is the fulfilling of its fundamental princi- 
ple. 

The slave system being thus directly 
opposed to the great law of benevolence 

is SINFUL. 



THE SYSTEM OF SLAVERY IS DIRECTLY 
OPPOSED TO THE FAMILY RELATION 
AS ESTABLISHED BY GOD. 

By this institution husband and wife are 
indissolubly joined together until death; 



14 Hff»41. CHARACTER Of 



not only that they may solace each other 
amid the toils of lifej but that each indivi- 
dual of the human family may, from the 
commeucenieDt of his existence, enjoy the 
permaneut watch, care, discipline, and 
government of one man and one woman. 
It is DO exaggeration to assert that this 
diTine ordinance involves the rirtue and 
happiness of the globe. Accorii ngl y. God 
has guarded it against violation in all its 
parts by the seTerest sanctions. - Have 
je not read." asks oor Savionr, •- that he 
who made them at the beginning made 
them male and female, and said. For this 
caose diall a man leave &tlier and noother, 
and shall deave to his wife : and they 
twain shall be one fesh 7 Wherefore they 
are no more twain, bat one flesh. What 
ikerefare €hd hath joined togetheTf let 
mtt fltex pMt asmmdo'^ In defiance of 
this law oi Jehorah, the slaTe-li.ws an- 
ih3iizs the master to pot asmMkr for eTer 
hnrfmid and wile at his own pleasure; 



THE SLATE STfTLM. 15 

for they are •• deemed, taken, reputed, and 
adjudged to be his chattels persocal to 
all inienis and purposes whatsoever." 
*• There cau be no \e^\ marriage among 
slaves but what can be broken by the 
master whenever it suits his passions or 
his avarice." Can auy thin^^ he dearer 
to a man than his wift'. or, to a wife than 
her husband ? Yet the slave-laws say to 
the mstSter. - You may bwfuUy tear tbem 
from each other's arms whenever it suits 
your convenience." 

Nor is the relation of parent and child 
any more regarded by these laws. As 
soon as the children have arrived at an 
age suitable for labor, they may be sepa- 
rated from their mother, and sold at any 
moment. Can any treasures be more pre- 
cious to a mother than her offspring ? 
Yet of these treasures her master may 
legally plunder her at pleasure. 

I am happy to testify, from my own ob- 
servation, that many wi^^jii*'^ le^^ect the 



16 MORAL CHARACTER OF 

parental and filial relations of their slaves; 
but this they do, not in accordance with 
the great principle of slavery, but in oppo- 
sition to it. 

The slave system, being thus directly 
opposed to the family relation, as esta- 
blished by God, is sinful. 

THE SYSTEM OF SLAVERY IS EVIL IN ALL 
ITS TENDENCIES. 

We must carefully distinguish between 
the evils which grow out of the ahnse of a 
thing, and the evils which are its appro- 
priate results. The gospel, when faith- 
fully preached, tends to bring men to 
repentance : if resisted, the result is in- 
creased obduracy : this is chargeable, how- 
ever, not on the gospel^ but on the abuse 
of the gospel ; since it is not the preach- 
ing of the truth that hardens men's hearts, 
but the resistance of this truth. Gambling, 
on the contrary, directly leads to idleness 



THE SLAVE SYSTEM. IT 

and dishonesty. When it results in these 
vices, it is justly chargeable with them, for 
they are its appropriate consequences. My 
design is to show that the slave system 
naturally tends to produce, and does actu- 
ally produce, the most enormous evils of 
every kind. 

L One of its obvious tendencies is to 
multij)ly instances of individual cruelty. 

The connection between despotic power 
and cruelty is so well understood in this 
country, that it would be superfluous to 
attempt to prove it. Now the slave-holder 
is the most absolute despot on the face of 
the globe. " The master may determine 
the kind and degree of labor to which the 
slave shall be subjected, and supply him 
with such food and raiment only, both as 
to quantity and quality, as he may think 
proper, or find convenient. The master 
may, at his discretion, inflict grievous 
scourging, or chastisement, upon his slaves; 
nor can they obtain any legal redress, 
2 



18 



MORAL CHARACTER OF 



how atrocious soever the injuries they 
may hav-e received from him." Every 
man, in the exercise of his common sense, 
might detennine beforehand, from the 
uniform experience of the world in all 
ages, that such irresponsible power would 
be abused, and we know from observation 
that it is abused. It is not my intention to 
bring a sweeping charge of cruelty against 
the mass of slave-holders, (as has been 
sometimes unjustly done by Northern men,) 
nor to prove that the 7?iajorily o[ them are 
cruel. My object is to show that the 
whole tendency of the system is to cruelty. 
I shall content myself with asserting, what 
I know to be true, that multiplied instances 
of the most revolting cruelty do occur as 
the proper results of the system. When 
known, they generally excite the indigna- 
tion of the community ; but, alas ! if the 
master possesses an ordinajy degree of 
prudence, they need not be knov/n, for no 
slave can bear testimony againsthis pro- 
prietor. 



THE SLAVE SYSTEM. 



19 



The extreme criiell'/ of the domestic 
slave trade, all candid men admit. Yet 
this is but a legitimate branch of the slave 
cyslc/n. It is sustained by three classes of 
men, all influenced by the love of money ; 
the slace-groirers^ the slave-traders, and 
the slave-jnirdLasers, principally in the 
southwest. The slave-grower raises his 
slaves expressly for the market, and as soon 
as they have arrived at a suitable age, he 
tears them from their parents, and con- 
siirns them over into the hands of the 
slave-trader, for money. The slave-trader 
hurries them to Louisiana, or the adjoining 
states, and there delivers tb.em into the 
hands of the slave-pu releaser, lor money. 
The slave-purchaser places them on his 
phintation, and wears out their lives with 
labor, beneath the southern sun, for money. 
jXow, if the slave system is lawful, this is 
certainly a fair and lionorable business. 
If two neighbors, on adjoining plantations, 
have a rio^ht to traffic in human tiesh, 



*20 MORiL CHARACTER OF 

why have not two planters in different 
counties, in different states, in different 
sections of the United States ? And why- 
have they not a right, Hke other men, to 
employ their agents? Why should the^e 
agents be loaded with public odium, while 
their employers escape censure? The 
domestic slave-trade, then, with all its 
abominations, is a legitimate appendage of 
the system. 

Thus much respecting the tendency of 
the slave system, to multiply instances of 
individual cruelty. To many this ten- 
dency will appear too obvious to need illus- 
tration. I have introduced it because it 
has an important bearing on the argument 
respecting the moral character of the sys- 
tem itself. 

2. x4nother obvions tendency of the sys- 
tem of slavery is to 7miltiply unjust a?id 
cruel laws. 

This tendency may be illustrated in 
various ways. 



THE SLAVE SYSTEM. 21 

The slave-laws begin by depriving the 
corored man of a right which this nation 
has, in the most solemn and public man- 
ner, pronounced to be unalienable — li- 
berty. Now, it is a well known princi- 
ple of morals, that one sin unrepented of 
leads to another of the same hind. The 
merchant who has embarked in one dis- 
honest scheme for making money, will be 
■Maturally drawn into others. The man 
who has uttered one falsehood, Vv'ill add 
twenty more for the sake of concealment. 
So hero. The slave-laws hav.'ng begun 
by robbiijg the slave of his liberty, it is not 
surjrising that we find them in the next 
place depriving him of the right of trial 
by jury, and then forbidding liini to read 
God's Holy Word. The tendency of this, as 
of all despotic systems, is from bad to worse. 

Again : Slaves being in the most ab- 
solute sense the property of their mas- 
ters, it is necessary that the latter should 
have unlimited control over them ; other- 
2^ 



22 MORAL CHARACTER OP 

wise, they would cease to be slaves. It 
would be an insufferable annoyance that 
these "personal chattels" should speak, and 
complain of the hard treatment to which 
they might happen to be subjected. Hence, 
the slave-laws provide that no slave shall 
be a party before a judicial tribunal, in any 
species of action against his master, how 
atrocious soever the injuries he may have 
received from him ; and, furthermore, that 
no slave shall be permitted to bear testi- 
mony against any white man. Resistance 
to their owners, on the part of these ''per- 
sonal chattels," must by no means be tole- 
rated. Hence, we need not wonder at the 
following enactment in the slave-code of 
Georgia : " If any slave shall presume to 
strike any white person, upon trial or con- 
viction, before the justice, or justices, ac- 
cording to the directions of this act, he 
shall, for the first offense, suffer such pun- 
ishment as the said justice, or justices, 
shall, in their discretion, think fit — not ex- 



THE SLAVE SYSTEM. 23 

tending to life or limb ; and for the second 
offense, suffer death." Man^r similar laws 
miffht be collected from the codes of the 
several slave-holding states, but the above 
will suffice for an illustration. 

Again : Slaves being unjustly deprived 
of their most sacred rights, it is necessary 
that they should be kept in a state of igno- 
rance and degradation. When men are to 
be governed as men, by equitable and 
wholesome laws, the more intelligence 
they possess the better. But when they 
are to be despoiledof freedom, and bought, 
sold, and used as " chattels personal to all 
intents and purposes whatsoever," the more 
profound the ignorance in which they are 
immersed, the better. God has implanted 
in the human soul an unconquerable love 
of liberty. Men will never voluntarily 
consent to be slaves, and they cannot be 
held in slavery by physical power, unless 
they are first reduced to such a deplora- 
ble state of ignorance and consequent help- 
lessness, that they shall neither understand 



24 MORAL CHARACTER OF 

their rights, nor be able to defend them. 
All this the slave-holding slates have lono- 
iniderstood. Hence, as the number of 
their slaves has multiplied, they have 
multiplied the obstacles to their mental 
improvement. They have deprived them 
of the means of furnishing their minds 
with knowledge, for the same reason that 
they have prohibited them from bearing 
fire-arms, viz. that they might make them 
entirely subservient, as personal chattels, 
to their own interests. 

So early as 1740, South Carolina, while 
yet a province of Great Britain, enacted 
the following law : '• Whereas the having 
of slaves taught to write, or suffering them 
to be employed in writing, may be at'tended 
with great inconveniences, Be it enacted, 
that all and every person and persons 
whatsoever who shall hereafter teach, or 
cause any slave or slaves to be taught, to 
write, or shall use or employ any slave as 
a scribe in any manner of writing whatso- 



THE SLAVE SYSTEM. 25 

ever hereafter taught to write, every such 
person or persons shall, for every such 
offense, forfeit the sum of one hundred 
pounds current money." — 2 Brevard's Di- 
gest, 243. 

In 1771, Georgia passed a similar act 
with a less penalty. 

In the revised code of Virginia, 1819, 
we find the following : " All meetings or 
assemblages of slaves or free negroes or 
mulattoes mixing and associating with 
such slaves at any meeting-house or 
houses, or at any other place," &c., " in the 
night, or at any school or schools for 
teaching them reading or writing, either 
in the day or night, under whatever pre- 
text, shall be deemed and considered 
unlawful assemblies," (fcc. — 1. Rev. Code, 
424-5. 

In 1800, the State of South Carolina had 
previously passed a similar law. 

As the number of the ^slaves and the 
consequent difficulty of governing them 



26 MORAL CHARACTER OF 

has increased, the number and severity of 
these enactments has proportionally in- 
creased. By the existin.u: laws of the ma- 
jority of the slave-holdin<^ states, to teach 
a slave (and in many states a free ne^ro) 
to read or write is forbidden under heavy 
penalties. In North Carolina, for exanjple, 
to teach a slav^e to read or write, or to sell 
or give him any book or pamphlet, is an 
offense punishable wilh thirty-nine lashes, 
or imprisonment, if tlie offender is a freo 
iieo^ro ; but if a white, then wilh a fine of 
two hundred dollars. Similar laws exist 
in the southern states generally. 

Thus is the written v/ord of God sealed 
up by law from the colored man for whom 
Jesnsdied. The autliors of these laws do 
in effect say to the Redeemer, '• Thy gospel 
which thou hast given for the instruction 
of ail nations we will not permit our slaves 
to read ; for if they do, we cannot keep 
them in bondage." With tiie correctness 
of their reasoning I am not at present con- 



THE SLAVE SYSTEM. 27 

cerned. That the perusal of the Holy 
Scriptures would excite rebellion among 
the slaves, no man in his sober senses can 
for a moment believe. But that intelli- 
goice which the ability to peruse them 
implies would, in the estimation of the 
slave-holding states, make it impossible 
for them to keep their slaves any lousier 
in subjection by physical power, the final 
resort of all who despoil their fellow-men 
of their just rights. 

In such abominable laws the system of 
slavery must inevitably end sooner or 
later. The discussion of this question at 
the North may hasten their development; 
for the clearer the light which shines 
through the communiiy on the sin of 
holding men in slavery, the thicker and 
closer must be the bandage of ignorance 
which the legislatures draw over the eyes 
of the slaves. 

3. It is hardly necessary to add, that 
another tendency of the slave system is 



28 MORAL CHARACTER OF 

every way to degrade the entire colored 
popidation of the United States. 

Deprived of freedomj subjected without 
hope of remedy to individual caprice, trans- 
ferred from master to master at the plea- 
sure of others, debarred by the strong arm 
of oppression from all privileges of men- 
tal improvement, and their domestic rela- 
tions disregarded by the laws, — the mass of 
the slave population in the Southern states 
is, by the confession of all, sunk in pro- 
found ignorance and degradation.* Nor 
is the influence of this system on the free 
black population hardly less pernicious. 
It has been the uniform policy of the slave- 



* A violent opponent of northern abolitionists, who is 
evidently disposed to give the most favorable view possible 
of the condition of the slaves, writing from Alabama, says; 
'• In many respects slaves are as moral as the whites. They 
are restrained by their owners from fighting, drinking, and 
idling. With little motive to be continent, and none to 
seek the honor of being virtuous, they, like the savages of 
this latitude, are frequently, though not universally, with- 
out chastity." The underlining is my own. 



THE SLAVE SYSTEM. 29 

holding states to keep them in a feeble and 
depressed condition, well knowing that in 
proportion as their numbers, elevation of 
character, and influence increase, they will 
become sources of perpetual discontent to 
the slaves. Hence all the impediments, so 
numerous and formidable, thrown in the 
way of those who would manumit their 
slaves : hence, in several of the slave- 
holding states, enactmenls making it penal 
for a white man to teach a free negro to 
read. 

In the free states, too, the free negro is 
doomed to feel the oppressive influence of 
this unrighteous system. For he belongs 
to a race enslaved, despised, and trampled 
under foot for two centuries ; with whom 
the community have always been accus- 
tomed to associate the ideas of servitude, 
inferiority, and degradation. 

It is not wonderful that narrow minds, 
accustomed only to contemplate present 
results, without regard to the connection 
3 



30 MORAL CHARACTER OF 

of cause and effect, beholding their deplo- 
rable condition, and perhaps baffled in 
their attempts to elevate particular indivi- 
duals in the face of all these formidable 
obstacles, should hastily conclude that the 
African race are incapable of lofty eleva- 
tion of character and self-government. 

4. I add that the tendency of the slave- 
system is every way ivjurious to the slave- 
holding part of the commvrdty. 

One of its deplorable effects is to blunt 
the moral sensibilities of the master. No 
man at the present day, can maintain and 
practise the system of slavery with a clear 
conscience. Excuse himself as he may, 
the conviction will still remain that he is 
doing wrong. If he comes to the light, his 
guilt stares him in the face ; and if he 
avoids it, he knows that in so doing he 
sins. In either case his conscience is de- 
filed, and his moral feelinffs are blunted. 

Another effect of the system is to dis- 
courage industry, and consequently to 



THE SLAVE SYSTEM- 31 

cncoitra^e idleness and vice among; the 
vJiite yop)dation. This is so evident as 
to need no illustration. 

Another effect is to enconrage Uccniious- 
ness. It is not my intention here to'brincr 
a sweeping- charcre of hcentionsness against 
all slave-holders, which would be indeed 
slanderous in the highest sense of ihc 
word. It is sufficient to remark, that the 
female slave has no protection against the 
white man. She may cry, but the laws 
have carefully provided that her voice 
shall not be heard. How far this unlimit- 
ed power is abused I shall not stop to in- 
quire. It is admitted by all candid men 
that, licentiousness, both among the slaves 
and the whites, is one of the deplorable 
fruits of this system. 

Another effect is to discourage educa- 
tion, by separating the planters so widely 
from each other, that they cannot conve- 
niently maintain schools. The slave-hold- 
ing states have always produced, in abuii- 



32 MORAL CHARACTER OF 

dance, men of highly gifted and cultivated 
minds ; but it is not true that the mass of 
the community in these states, has ever 
been well educated. 

Another effect is to produce inequality 
of property among the whites. 

Another effect is to discourage enter- 
prise. Slave-labor, though it may be in 
individual instances more profitable, is, in 
the aggregate, less profitable than that of 
freemen. Thousands of intelligent men 
in these states feel, and frankly acknow- 
ledge, that slavery is, in this respect, a mill- 
stone about their necks. 

In all these ways, the tendency of the 
system is injurious in its influence upon 
the white population of the slave-holding 
states. 

5. Another tendency of the system of 
slavery is to destroy that liberty of the 
press, and that freedom of speech a7id of 
discussion, uhich are the safeguards of 
this and of every republic. 



THE SLAVE SYSTEM. 33 

Eased on injustice and oppression, it 
"hates the iioht, neither comes to the 
light, lest its deeds should be reproved." 
Its supporters manifest the most extreme 
solicitude to keep from the ears of their 
slaves the faintest whisper respecting their 
own guilt, wellJvnowing that they cannot 
justify themselves to these slaves. Hence, 
every attempt in the slave-holding states 
to expose, with manly plainness, the wick- 
edness of the whole system of slavery is 
perilous in the extreme. The ministers of 
the gospel, and the public press, may not 
plainly tell the masters that they are sin- 
nincr in convertincr their fellow-men into 
personal chattels, upon pain of being 
dealt with as '• incendiaries ;" deplore the 
existence of the system as " a great evil," 
and ''unjustifiable in the abstract," and pro- 
pose various plans for its removal — they 
may in cautious terms, — but hold up, in 
clear light, its heinous guilt, and urge the 
masters to abolish it, as sinful, in the 
3* 



34 MORAL CHARACTER OP 

speediest and best manner possible, they 
may not. Thus is freedom of speech and 
6^ the press, on a pt int of vital nTi;:ortance, 
virtually suppressed in the slave-holding 
states. 

Already has the United States' mail 
been subjected, in violation of the con- 
stitution, to the surveillance of the Post- 
master General and his subordinates, and 
now it is proposed to make such a sur- 
veillance legal. Respectable men have 
been informed by lawless associations of 
individuals, what publications they may, 
and what they may not, receive from the 
North, upon peril of being " lynched." 
Gov. Mc Duffie, in his last official mes- 
sage, advises to punish interference with 
the rights of the masters " by deaths with- 
out benefit of clergy?^ Under color of 
such a law, the citizen of South Carolina, 
or stranger sojourning there, who shall 
openly maintain that one man has no 
right of property in his fellow-man, or 



THE SLAVE SYSTEM. 35 

that " all men are created free and equal, 
and endowed by their Creator with certain 
unalienable rights, among which are life, 
liberty, and the piirsuitof happiness," may 
be adjudged guilty of interfering with the 
rights of the master, and hung without 
mercy. 

But this is not all. Our Southern breth- 
ren insist upon our putting a total stop to 
the discussion of this question. If we will 
not comply with this unreasonable demand, 
they predict a dissolution of the Union. 
They call upon our legislatures to pass 
laws for the suppression of anti-slavery 
meetings and publications. One of their 
governors has formally demanded from 
the governor of New York, the person 
of one of the citizens of this state, whose 
only offense is that he is a publisher of 
anti-slavery documents. 

No books, sent to the Southern market, 
must allude to the sin of holdinof nien in 
slavery ; no bookseller, who would enjoy 



36 MORAL CHARACTER OF 

their patronage, must publish anti-slavery 
works ; and no merchant, who would 
grow rich by their custom^ must openly 
avow himself an anti-slavery man. Thus 
IS the etfort to suppress the discussion of 
thisgreat question prosecuted with untirino^ 
energy. I do not say by the entire South- 
ern community, but by those leadirjo men 
among them who are determined to up- 
hold and perpetuate the s\'stem of slavery. • 

It may be said, in their behalt", that they 
are not opposed to the simple discussion 
of the question, but to - the incendiary 
attempts of Northern fanatics." I would 
this apology for their violence were found- 
ed in truth. But what are facts ? Can 
any thing be more calm, dispassionate, and 
free from tlie charge of incendiarism and 
fanaticism, than President Wayland's ad- 
mirable chapter on Personal Liberty ? Yet 
this has stirred up the most angry feelings 
m the bosoms of his Southern brethren in 
Christ ; and now they are beginning to 



THt sLlT^ 1TST2X 37 

warn ' '----. '.2 

th-- - 

that men have no right 10 bold pre ; : 
in their feilow-meo, they will wit} 
£rom him their potrange. The tr^ 
that mode of dwciMBing the davery c :;es- 
tioo will be most streaooudy oppose: 
the sopporteis <if the dare sjpteoi, ^ 
prodaces the most lapid and powerfai m- 
floence upon the pablfic miiid. I d : 
deoy diat some aDti-aiaTery men a: 
North have been riolait^ abiisiwe, and un- 
christiaD, in their langva^ and ' 
BM their fimhS; however moch thev 
be deplorcd^do not heat the fimndar 
the violent excitement at the Sooth, 
arises mainly firom thu aMvwl duarac: 
Hob syaiem aiwniled It is tme of exerr 
sfstem^ that, in proportion as it if 
and opp iB MifC g its abettors wiU dx - . 
bold and feoksB disconon of its eh 1 1 : 
icr. The widkedncss of the ilme 1 



38 MORAL CHARACTER OF 

slave system, then, may be measured by the 
strength of the opposition made l)y its ad- 
vocates to a free and full discussion of its 
merits. 

The tendency of tliis system to suppress 
freedom of speech and of the press is most 
alarminof. Let this fieedom, jinaianlicd 
to every citizen of the United Stales, by 
the constitution, be once destroyed on this 
jwutt, and it will be an easy work to de- 
stroy it on every otiier point. Our tongues 
and our press will be ];laced under surveil- 
lance, as on the continent of Europe; and 
we shall become a nation of nominal free- 
men, but real bondmen. 

6. Finally: The tendency of the slave 
system is iosce?ies of blocdshed,7nassacrc, 
and cxtcrmuialion. 

No good man at the North desires these 
awful results. No good man will encou- 
rage the slave to rebellion against his mas- 
ter. But this will, in all human probabi- 
lity, be the consequence of an attempt to 



THE SLAVE SYSTEM. 39 

perpetuate the system. The immortal 
mind was made for freedom, and it will 
not willingly be deprived of the precious 
boon of its Creator. By the strong arm of 
power, men may be kept quiet in slavery 
for a season ; but their bosoms will rankle 
with deadly enmity against their oppress- 
ors, which will sooner or later break forth 
in desperate efforts at self-emancipation. 
The scenes at South Hampton show that 
ignorance is no safeguard against, but 
rather an incentive to. such efforts. Had 
these deluded wretches understood the 
physical force of their masters, they never 
would have dreamed of such amaiimder- 
taking. How melancholy then is the pro- 
sp3ct before us, unless this ruinous system 
be l)rouo;httoa speedy and peaceful ter- 
mination ! Plots, conspiracies, insurrec- 
tions, massacres, and summary execution?, 
may be expected to thicken, until one or 
the otiier race is exterminated. Were there 
no God in heaven, we might predict with 



10 MORAL CHAKACTXR OT 

certainty the niial triumph of the masters. 
But when we remember thai he has so- 
lemnly pledged himself to aren^e the op- 
pressed, and punish the oppressor, our 
minds are left in solemn suspense. What- 
erer may te the fate of the slaves, we know 
that their masters, if they will persist in up- 
holding this unrighteous system. shaL not 
go unpanisfaed. The history of the world 
^jeaks to them in onambiguous terms of a 
letribation to come, and Grod "s word coi;- 
^ims the testioiony of nnirersal experience. 

The system of slarery. then, being eril 
in adl its ii^ndencicg^, is ^ixrix. 

Here soJer me to remark that we are to 
judge of this system, as we do of ereqr 
odier system, by Us appropriate tendem.- 
de$. Wf are not toseiect isolaled 
exam^ttes of extreme lenitf , or extrane 
caraelty, and hold tfirai np to paUic view 
assuapies of the spiem. It fieqaeDtfj 
hafppns that unfledged Northexnezs, wiio 
liavBs froBs a larrow^ and defective ednca- 



TMI SLATE 5T5TEM 41 

tion imbibed riolent prejudices against 
Southern character in general, are induced 
to visit the siaTe-holding states. Here 
thev fall perhaps into the bosom of a pious, 
humane, and accomplished family, ^'and 
many such may tie found in the South. ^ 
where the slaves are treated with uniform 
kindness, and carefully instructed in the 
prmciples of the gospel. They see no 
whips, chains, or manacles : they hear no 
groans of oppression ; mutual offices of 
kindness and good will alone meet their 
eyes. Suddenly, their eaxly prejudices 
give way, and. as is natural to the human 

mind, they go to the ^ ": extreme. 

T":r medium through T. 7 contem- 

plate slavery divests it. to their visioD. 
of all its horrors : and they write hom€ to 
their n-iends at the North the most en- 
chanting accounts of the system. 

Another class of Northerners seem to 
delight in dwellmg upon cases of exrreme 
cruelty. One would think, to read iheir 
4 



42 MORAL CHARACTER OF 

narratives, and hear their public ha- 
rangues, that every master is an inhuman 
monster, and every foot-slep of the slave 
red with blood. Some of them are nar- 
row-minded and ignorant men, who sup- 
pose the North to be the only abode of vir- 
tue, and others are influenced by a natural 
propensity to go to extremes on ev^ery sub- 
ject. Now, the right way to determine the 
character of the slave system, is to consi- 
der its general tendencies. Tliese are 
"only evil continually." In none of the 
slave-holding states do we see them fully 
developed. When tlie Genius of Slavery 
shall have lacerated the body of every 
colored man with stripes, and galled the 
feet of every colored man with fetters ; 
when it shall have despoiled him of his 
last remaining privilege, shut out the last 
lingering ray of heavenly light from his 
immortal mind, and sealed up his eyes in 
eternal night; when it shall have seared 
the consciences of the masters, as with a 



THE SLAVE SYSTEM. 43 

hot iron, and spread indolence, licentious- 
ness. jgDorancc, and poverty, throngh the 
community; wi:en it shall have deluged 
the slave-holding states willi blood, and 
ended in extermination; th?:^, and not 
TILL THEN, will its malignant character 
be fully disclosed. May God, in his infi- 
nite mercy, prevent this awful disclosure, 
by pouring out upon all concerned in sus- 
taining this system the spirit of hearty 
repentance ! 

I have shown that the system of slavery 
is directly opposed to the fundamental law 
of love which God has given men, for the 
ren^ulation of their conduct towards each 
other, and to the family relation as esta- 
blished by God himself; and that it is evil 
in all its tendencies. For each and all of 
these reasons it is sinful. 

I lay claim to no originality of argu- 
ment. I have said nothing but what such 
men as Jonathan Edwards, John Wesley, 
William Wilberforce, John Jay, and a host 



44 MORAL CHARACTER OF 

more of philanthropists, have long since 
proved by unanswerable arguments. It 
may be asked, " Why dwell so long on 
the sinfulness of the slave ''system, when it 
is so generally admitted ? " I answer, 

1. Though the sinfulness of holding 
property in men is generally admitted at 
the North, in a general way, yet the rea- 
sons why it is sinful need to be specifically 
and distinctly stated, that the mouths of 
gainsayers may be stopped. 

2. At the present crisis, this is especially 
necessary, since the violent opposition of 
many to a class of men at the North, termed 
Abolitionists, is leading them, if I mistake 
not, to overlook the insufferable guilt of 
that system which these men are opposing, 

3. In no other way can a wholesome, 
powerful, permanent public sentiment in 
favor of the speedy removal of this guilty 
system be maintained in this nation. Let 
it not be said that the South will not 
regard the opinions of the North on this 



THE SLAVE SYSTEM. 45 

subject. We are at present so divided 
and distracted by the violence of party 
spirit, that our Southern brethren hardly 
feel the power of our influence. Let the 
sentiments of the non-slaveholding states 
on this subject, be coolh^, temperately, 
firmly, kindly, and unanimously expressed, 
and they will produce a slow but sure 
effect. United public sentiment, when 
based upon eternal truth, is omnipotent. 
So far as slavery exists under the autho- 
rity of the state legislatures^ we have no 
i^ight to use any other weapon — we will 
ALLOW no other weapon to be used by our 
citizens — we DESIRE no other weapon. 

The preceding arguments against the 
slave system are based rather upon the 
general principles of the Bible than upon 
specific texts. I am aware that its advo- 
cates claim the authority of Scripture in its 
behalf Because slavery existed and was 
tolerated in the days of the Hebrew patri- 
archs, they maintain that it may lawfully 



46 MORAL CHARACTER OF 

exist at the present day. It is one of the 
most odious features of the modern system 
of slavery, that, instead of keeping pace 
with the progress of the world in know- 
ledge and improvement, it goes back into 
the ages of ignorance that are past, adopts 
their abuses, and then pleads them in its 
own justification. What was the con- 
dition of the bondmen and bondmaids 
whom the Hebrews were allov\'ed to buy of 
^' the' heathen round about them," and of 
^' the strangers that sojourned among 
them," and to " take as an inheritance for 
their children after them," is a question 
worthy of examination. That it cor- 
responded entirely to the condition of our 
Southern slaves is not certain. But, how- 
ever it shall be decided, it will not affect 
the scriptural argument against slavery. 
At that age of the world practices existed 
which we know, from the infallible testi- 
mony of God, to have been in themselves 
wrong ; but which God " winked at " for 



THE SLAVE SYSTEM. 47 

a season, till he should have established 
certain fundamental truths of primary im- 
portance. Thus Moses allowed a man 
whose wife found no favor in his eyes, 
because he had found some uncleanness 
[nakedness of a thing, i. e. blemish] in her, 
to write her a bill of divorcement, and to 
send her out of his house. This practice, 
our Saviour expressly informs the Jews, 
Moses suffered by reason of the hardness 
of their hearts, and severely condemns it, 
except in a specified case. So also po- 
lygamy was tolerated in the ancient patri- 
archs and kings, and laws were enacted 
regulating the conduct of the man who 
had two wives (Deut. xxi. 15-17.). Yet 
to practise polygamy after the example of 
the Hebrew patriarchs would be sinful. 

The argument of Governor M'DufBe 
therefore, if it proves any thing, proves 
entirely too much for his purpose. ■• God 
forbid," he piously exclaims, " that my 
descendants, in the remotest generations, 



48 MORAL CHARACTER OF 

should live in any other than a community 
having the institution of domestic slavery 
as it existed among the patriarchs of the 
primitive church, and in all the free states 
of antiquity." Surely this governor, who 
is so anxious to conform to the example of 
the ancient patriarchs, ought strenuously 
to recommend to his legislature tlje imme- 
diate passage of a law allowing the good 
citizens of South Carolina to have at least 
two wives apiece like Jacob, and to give 
these wives a bill of divorcement, and 
send them out of their houses, whenever 
they cease to find favor in their eyes, ac- 
cording to the practice of " the patriarchs 
of the primitive church." 

But farther: In the law of Moses we 
find the following permission : ''Both thy 
bondmen and thy bondmaids which thou 
shalt have shall be of the heathen 

THAT ARE ROUND ABOUT YOU ; of them 

shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids. 
Moreover, of the children of the strak- 



THE SLAVE SYSTEM. 



49 



GERS THAT DO SOJOURN AMONG YOU, of 

them shall ye buy, and of their families 
that are with you, which they begat in 
your land : and they shall be your posses- 
sion. And ye shall take them as an in- 
heritance for your children after you, to 
inherit them for a possession : they shall 
be your bondmen for ever " (Lev. xxv. 
44-46.). Now, if every custom tolerated 
by God among the Hebrews may be law- 
fully imitated by the citizens of the United 
States, then have our Southern brethren a 
moral right to send out ships to the coast 
of Africa as our fathers did, that they may 
bring home cargoes of these " heathen " 
purchased of the native chiefs, to be their 
" bondmen for ever ; " and to buy up the 
children of the Cherokees, and other 
" strangers that do sojourn among " 
them, as an inheritance for their children 
after them. The laws of the United States 
and of the nations of Europe, which de- 
nounce the foreign slave-trade as piratical, 



50 



MORAL CHARACTER OF 



being at war with the practice of " the 
patriarchs of the primitive cljurcli/' ou2;ht, 
accordinsfto this mode of reasoning, forth- 
with to be repealed. 

With regard to the example of our 
Saviour and his Apostles, it is sufficient to 
remark, that they no where countenanced 
the system of slavery, but simply pre- 
scribed rules for reo^ulatinof the conduct of 
masters and servants. This no more 
proves that they regarded the custom with 
approbation, than the fact that God pre- 
scribed rules for regulating the conduct of 
the man who had two wives proves that 
he approved of polygamy. The grand 
truth to be established at that day plainly 
was, the divine origin of the Christiait 
religion. The practice of slavery was 
tolerated for a season, until, this religion 
having been firmly established, the proper 
time should come for bringing its benevo- 
lent principles to bear upon the system, 
and exterminating it from Christendom. 



THE SLAVE SYSTEM. 51 

That this time has arrived, is evident 
from the fact that the great question of 
HUMAN RIGHTS is now, by the providence 
of Godj brought so distinctly before the 
nations of the earth, that it is agitating 
them throughout the globe. In this mo- 
mentous discussion the United States 
have stood forth as the avowed cham- 
pions of liberty. We revolted from Great 
Britain upon the abstract question 
OF HUMAN rights. We took up our arms 
and maintained an arduous and sangui- 
nary struggle for seven years against her 
fleets and armies, not because we were 
actually ground to the earth by oppression, 
but because we considered '- taxation with- 
out representation'^ an intolerable griev- 
ance inevitably tending to oppression. 
The God of armies favored us, and we 
achieved our independence. From that 
day to this our halls of legislation have 
ceaselessly echoed with the sound of 
" Liberty and Equality ; " and yet we 



52 MORAL CHARACTER OF 

are holding more than two miUions of men 
in a state of the most absolute servitude, 
and a portion of them too under the autho- 
rity of the United States. Under the very- 
walls of our capitol, where the sacred 
charter of our nation, which proclaims 

that " ALL MEN ARE CREATED FREE AND 

EauAL," is deposited, men are bought and 
sold like cattle, disturbing our eulogies 
of " Liberty and Equality" by the 
clanking of their chains. The nations of 
Europe laugh at our inconsistency, and 
well they may. Wave after wave of 
burninof sarcasm and ridicule is rollinsf in 
upon us across the wide Atlantic, nor 
have we any barrier to protect ourselves 
against its scalding influence, for it is the 
sarcasm and ridicule of truth. " What is 
the difference," they ask, f' in a moral point 
of view, between buying a gang of slaves 
in the District of Columbia from their 
owners, and buying a cargo of slaves on 
the coast of Africa from their owners ? " It 



THE SLAVE SYSTEM. 53 

will not avail ns to get angry at this taunt- 
ing question. This will only increase their 
laughter. We must repent. 

When we consider that men have plead- 
ed the authority of the Holy Scriptures as 
a warrant to burn men alive for heresy ; 
that the monarchs of Europe profess to 
derive their despotic powers immediately 
from God, and call all resistance to their 
authority rebellion against heaven ; and 
that Satan himself quoted Scripture for the 
purpose of seducing our Saviour into sin ; 
we need not wonder to find the advocates 
of slavery claiming the sanction of a su- 
premely benevolent God in favor of a 
supremely selfish system, which autho- 
rizes men to be bought and sold like cattle, 
which contemptuously disregards the fa- 
mily relation which God himself has esta- 
blished, and which seals up from the poor 
slave the word of eternal life which is 
able to make him wise unto salvation. 
When God shall " call evil good and good 
5 



54 THE SLAVE SYSTEM 

evil;" when he shall •• put darkness for 
liffht and li^ht for darkness.'' '-'bilterfor 
sweet and sweet for bitter : " then, and not 
till then, will he be fbiiud the patron of the 
American slave system. 



THE SYSTEM OF SLAVERY NOT TO BE 
I\ ANY WAY COUNTENANCED UR 
ABETl'ED. 

The system of slavery having been 
proved by unanswerable arguments to be 
SINFUL, it follows that it is not to be in 
any way countenanced or abetted. Of the 
innumerable ways in which this may be 
done. I shall mention but one, namely, 
practising- the system. 

I wish it to be distinctly remembered 
that the question now under consideration 
is not hov7 the penitent slave-holder shall 
dispose of his slaves ; whether he shall 
send them to Laberia, or to the Northern 



NOT TO BE COUXTENAXCED. 55 

States, or retain them on his plantation : 
nor is the question wiiether, in this latter 
case, he shall immediately manumit them 
ill Ico-alform, or shall remain for a limited 
period of tim? their le^'-al master, while he 
expressly renounces all right in them as 
property, and treats them accordingly ; in 
short, does all that lies in his power to place 
them in the condition of freemen. On these 
points 1 intend to say a few words hereaf- 
ter. The simple proposition which I am 
at present maintaining is that it is unlaw- 
ful to practise the systp/m of slavery. By 
practising the system of slavery, I mean 
USING the civil right ichich the slave-laws 
confer TO buy, sell, and hold men as 

CHATTELS PERSONAL. 

Thus to countenance and abet this un- 
righteous system by the most eiiicient of all 
means, EXAMPLE, is in no case what- 
ever justifiable. 

Does the slave-holder plead necessity? 

He is under no necessity of using his 



56 THE SLAVE SYSTEM 

fellow-men as personal chattels. The 
legislatures can never compel him to do 
this. They may, and do, interpose the 
most formidable obstacles in the way of 
their emancipation. In many of the 
Southern States, for example, every slave 
manumitted in legal form, is required to 
leave the state within a certain number 
of days, under penalty of being seized by 
the civil authorities and sold into bondage. 
In such a case the master has certainly 
full power to say to his slaves, "I have 
no right in you or in any human beings 
as property : I will not sell you : I will 
not interfere with your domestic relations : 
I will secure to you, in the best manner 
possible, a just compensation for your 
services : I will faithfully instruct you 
and your children in the gospel of Jesus > 
Christ ; in short, 1 will, so far as lies in my 
power, treat you as freemen : if I do not 
immediately manumit you in legal form, 
it is because the laws, which I cannot 



NOT TO BE COUNTENANCED. 57 

oontrol, have made such a manumission 
null and void, and 1 should ihus throw 
you out of the pale of my protection with- 
out benefit iujj you : I do in this respect 
to you, as 1 would wish to have you, in 
Jike circumstances, do to me: but I will 
be your proprietor only in name: you 
may at all times come to me for counsel 
and direction as to a father.*' Let him do 
this in the spirit of love ; and let him also, 
in a firm, temperate, dignified, and consti- 
/tutional manner, exert his influence in the 
manner which he shall conscientiously 
think wisest and best to induce his fellow- 
citizens totally to abolish the whole sys- 
tem, and he has in the spirit of tlie divine 
command, '-broken the yoke, and let the 
oppressed go free." He is not considered 
by the communily as countenancing or 
upholding the system. Thus much is 
clearly the immediate duty of every mas- 
ter. Ulterior duties will be determined by 
<:ircumstances. It is of vast importance 
5* 



58 THE SLAVE SYSTEM 

that he should not only cease himself to 
hold property in his slaves, but that he 
should place them and their posterity 
beyond the power of his heirs, making 
them freemen not only de facto but also 
de jure ; and he ought to omit no effort 
for the accompUshment of this desirable 
object. 

Does the slave-holder plead his person- 
al kindness to his slaves 7 

No personal kindness towards the small 
number under his immediate control can 
justify him in sustainino:, by his example, 
a system fraught with injustice, oppression, 
and cruelty towards the entire colored 
population of the United States. He may 
comfortably clothe and feed his slaves ; 
he may not tax them with labor beyond 
their strength : he may banish from his 
plantation the brutal practice of flogging ; 
he may provide for their religious instruc- 
tion ; — but so long as he continues to act, 
m the face of the community, upon the 



NOT TO BE COUNTENANCED. 59 

fundamental principle of slaven-. which 
is that men may be converted into pro- 
perty and used as such, he is upholdiug 
the system with all its tremendous evils, 
however kindly he may treat his own 
slaves. He is guilty, not for his kindness 
to them, but for countenancing- and sup- 
porting an unkind system which is crush- 
ins: the colored man to the earth. He 
may make a temperate use of the absolute 
and irresponsible power of the masters, 
but others will certainly abuse it. It 
ought not to be possessed by any man 
living, and it is his duty, by his example, 
to say so. All attempts to sanctify the 
system of slavery by private benevolence 
towards the slaves are preposterous. As 
well might one attempt to sanctify the 
business of gambling, or selling ardent 
spirits. 

Here suffer me to remark that the 
efforts of benevolent men to remove from 
our nation this fearful evil, ought to be 



60 THE SLAVE SYSTEM 

directed not principally against the abuses 
of the slave system, hut against the slave 
system itself ^ tiie source of these ahuses. 
Tlie cause of emancipaiion is to 1)0 pro- 
moted upon the same principle as the 
cause of (emp( ranee, or the cause of reli- 
gion generally. AVero the advocates of 
temperance to aim their hlows at drunken- 
ness instead of moderate dr'inkin^^ the 
fountain of drunkenness, what would tliey 
accomplish 7 Cr, were the njinisters of 
the gospel to h? incessantly preaching 
against murJer, iheft, piracy, and the like, 
instead of laboring to reform men's unholy 
hearts whence all these bitter Gtreams 
proceed, whom would they convert ? Pnt 
a stop to moderate drinkinsTj and drunk- 
enness will cease of course. Sanctify 
men's hearts, and their external actions 
will, be right. So convince the slave- 
holder that the principle of holding pro- 
perty in n:a ] is essentially injurious to the 
best interests of society, and therefore sin- 



KOT TO EE COUNTENANCED. 61 

fill ; and induce him. iipon conscientious 
grounds, to abandon it, and his reforma- 
tion (so far as this one sin is concerned) 
is thorough. Whereas, if we level our 
ariiilery mainly at the revolting abuses of 
slavery, he can easily evade its power by 
personal kindness to his slaves. 

To send pamphlets, then, from the 
North to the South, embellished with 
cuts representino: the planter, with his 
broad-brimmed hat, in the act of flogging 
his bleediDs: and manacled slaves, and 
abounding with anecdotes of extreme 
cruelty, — is to commit a manifold error. 

It IS an error in judorment : for it infalli- 
bly secures their rejection without a read- 
ing. 

It is an error in ethics : for it is not in 
accordance with the principles of the gos- 
pel that the truth i' ' ' usly 
dressed in the most _ :ossi- 
ble, vhere there is already an almost insur- 
mountable mass of prejudice to be encoun- 
tered. 



62 THE SLAVE SYSTEM 

It is an error in logic ; for such appeals 
do not seriously disturb the conscience of 
the linmane planter, which it is most 
important to reacli. 

Paniplilets in this stylo may have an- 
swered very well in England where the 
object was to induce a non-slavehold- 
ing population to legislate on the sub- 
ject for a distant province ; but they 
are eiitirely out of place lierc. The 
masters to whom these publications are 
sent, hold in their own hands, by the 
admission of all, the exclusive power of 
abolishing slavery: they arc morbidly 
jealous of foreign influence; and the 
truth respecting the slave system, how- 
ever kindly told, will be extremely unpa- 
latable to the majority of them. In such 
circumstances it is the dictate of wisdom, 
of religion, and of sober reason to present 
it, not in the most revolting, but in the 
ni'St conciliating manner possible. 

Does the slave-holder plead that his 
slaves are not Jit for liberty ? 



NOT TO BE COUNTENANCED. 63 

What does ho understand by conferring 
liberty upon his slave? Turning him 
loose at once upon society, and bidding 
him take care of himself? No man 
can believe this to bo his duty. Let him 
renounce all right of property in his 
slaves, and treat them accordingl^^ Tlien 
lie cair employ them on his plantation as 
before ; he can exercise a parental super- 
vision over them; and in the mean time 
he can qualify them for self-government 
cs fast as j)ossible. i( in the prosecution 
of this benevolent work the legislatures 
(that is, the majority of the slave-holders 
acting thiou^ih their authorized agents) 
throw obstructions in his way, he is 
guiltless. 

Does the slave-holder plead that his 
slaves are better off than the free colored 
people 7 

This plea is, in the first place, false, tlie 
slave-holders themselves being judges. 
Tliey have provided by law for the manu- 



64 THE SLAVE SYSTEM 

mission of slaves who have performed 
important services to the state : a strange 
reward of merit truly, according to this 
doctrine ! 

This plea would not, in the second placCj 
avail the slave-holder though its truth 
were admitted. For it is the system of 
slavery which has reduced the free Macks 
to their present degraded condition ; and 
he is not at liberty to plead the evil conse- 
quences of an unjust course of conduct 
as an excuse for its continuance. 

Does the slave-holder plead that he 
disapproves of the system of slavery in 
the abstract 7 

What is the system of slavery in the 
abstract ? It is the system existing only 
in theory ; for, wherever it actually exists, 
it is (to borrow the language of gramma- 
rians) not an abstract but a concrete 
thing. It has not a theoretical and gene- 
ral, but a real and particular existence. 
Now who is not opposed to all sin in the 
abstract ? 



NOT TO BE COUNTENANCED. 65 

But perhaps the slave-holder means 
that, although he acknowledges the gene- 
ral system to be wrong, yet he is com- 
pelled, m his particular circumstances^ 
to practise it. This plea of necessity has 
been considered above. 

Does the slave-holder plead that the 
Bible sanctions the holding of men in 
slavery 7 

This plea has already been answered. 

Does the slave-holder plead that great 
and good men have by their example 
sanctioned this system without either 
remorse of conscience or censure of men 7 

True. So also in olden times, great 
and good men, by tlieir example, sanc- 
tioned polygamy, without either remorse 
of conscience or censure of men ; and, in 
modern times, great and good men have, 
by their example, sanctioned the manufac- 
ture, sale, and use of ardent spirits, with- 
out either remorse of conscience or cen- 
sure of men. " The times of this igno- 
6 



66 THE SLATE SYSTEM 

ranee God winked at, but now command- 
eth all men every where to repent;" for on 
all these subjects "the darkness is past, 
and the true light now shineth." 

Does the slave-holder plead that he is 
not the author of the system^ hut that it 
has been entailed upon himself and his 
fellow-citizens hy involuntary inherit- 
ance 7 

This is certainly a palliating circum- 
stance. The sons of New England who 
migrate to the South, and basely aposta- 
tize from the principles of their forefathers 
by becoming slave-holders, are far more 
guilty in the sight of God than the native 
citizens of the Southern States. Still the 
fact that they did not invent the system, 
but received it from their fathers, will not 
justify them in perpetuating it ; otherwise 
there is an end to all reformations and 
improvements in society. 

Does the slave-holder plead that his 
slaves are his lawful property ? 



NOT TO BE COUNTENANCED. 67 

Let US examine the validity of his title. 
The authority under which he holds pro- 
perty in his fellow-men, is simply the 
slave-lmos of the state in lohich he and 
they reside. These laws have been 
demonstrated to be contrary to God's law. 
They are therefore null and void in 
the court of heaven, and all titles derived 
from them are equally null and void. 
God alone is the proprietor of men. They 
are his property and his only. The 
mortal who presumes to appropriate this 
property of Jehovah to himself, and to 
make merchandise of it for his own con- 
venience, is embezzHng the treasures of 
heaven, and will assuredly find his title to 
them set aside at the righteous tribunal of 
the universe. It is vain for him to plead 
that he found this property in the hands 
of a fellow-mortal, and paid him an equi- 
valent for it. He knows that it belongs 
to God, and he ought either never to 
have received it, or immediately to return 
it to the right owner. 



68 THE SLAVE SYSTEM 

Slave-holders cannot justly demand an 
equivalent for restoring to their slaves 
their unalienable rights. . This is nothing 
more than their duty, and no man can 
ask pay for doing his duty. The sacri- 
fice may be in particular instances great. 
It will require the exercise of an heroic 
and generous spirit of self-denial and 
benevolence, comporting well with the 
generous and chivalrous character of the 
South. Our Saviour has expressly pro- 
vided for such exigencies. " If thy right 
eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it 
from thee ; for it is profitable for thee that 
one of thy members should perish, and 
not that thy whole body should be cast 
into hell." The general doctrine here 
inculcated is that if men would enter 
heaven, they must inake any and every 
sacrifice of their piHvatc interests which 
duty requires. 

The renunciation on the part of slave- 
holders of all property in their slaves, 



NOT TO BE COUNTENANCED. 69 

does not, however, necessarily imply the 
total loss of all their services. Provided 
the nrianumitted slaves be still employed 
on the plantations as free laborers under 
such restraints as the legislatures may 
deem necessary for the welfare of the 
community, the arrangement would pro- 
bably be attended with temporary loss to 
individuals, but certainly with ultimate 
gain to the people at large. The slaves 
held as property in the United States are 
valued, I believe, at upwards of eiglit 
hundred millions of dollars. We are 
gravely asked, '•' Do you expect the South- 
ern States to sacrifice eight hundred mil- 
lions of dollars ? " By no means. Not 
unless the slaves are all to be colonized. 
Then the sacrifice must somewhere be 
made, either by the slave-holders them- 
selves, or by their non-slaveholding breth- 
ren, or by both. But, if they are retained 
in the country, it is not necessary. Uni- 
versal experience has demonstrated that 
6* 



70 THE SLAVE SYSTEM 

free labor is more profitable to the commu- 
nity than slave labor. Were the South- 
ern States to substitute the former for the 
latter, they would eventually be g^ainers 
by the change. 

According to the slave system the mas- 
ter furnishes his laborer with food, 
clothing, lodgings, and implements of 
every kind : in sickness, infancy, and old 
age he must be at charges for their main- 
tenance without receiving any equivalent. 
The slaves, moreover, knowing that the 
avails of their industry belong wholly to 
their master, have, as a general fact, no 
motive to exert themselves except the fear 
of punishment Hence, by the concession 
of all, the amount of labor performed by a 
given number of slaves, taken indiscrimi- 
nately, is much less than the amount per- 
formed by the same number of free labor- 
ers. The latter, it is true, receive wages ; 
but. on the other hand, they furnish them- 
selves, and, besides, take care of their own 



NOT TO BE COUNTENANCED. 7l 

sick and infirm. Free labor will always 
be found, for these reasons, more profita- 
ble in the long run than that of slaves. 

To bring the former system into com- 
plete operation where the latter has long 
prevailed, must necessarily be a work of 
time and labor. Ignorant and unaccus- 
tomed from childhood to provide for them- 
selves, the slave? -cannot be in a moment 
qualified for this work. The bare act of 
manumitting them will not thus qualify 
them. Yet this is no reason why the 
Southern States should not immediately 
begin in good earnest to effect the change, 
(provided the mauiLmitted slaves are to 
remain at home, a question to be here- 
after considered,) by abolishing all right 
of property in man, and suppressing 
the traffic in human flesh in every 
shape — by repealing all laws whose 
object is to impede the mental improve- 
ment of the slaves, and enacting laws of 



72 THE SLAVE SYSTEM 

an opposite character — by conferring upon 
them the right of trial by jury — and by 
securing to them, in some method, a just 
compensation for their services. It might, 
and doubtless would, be necessary that 
the masters should act for a period of time 
as guardians and conservators of their 
former slaves, a power for which the 
legislatures could easily provide. If it 
be replied that such a power might be 
abused to cruelty and injustice as well as 
the power of a slave-holder, I answer, To 
some extents it certainly could. No 
method of manumission can be devised 
that is free from all objections. The best 
ought to be selected by our Southern 
brethren, to whom belongs both the legal 
right and the responsibility of break- 
ing the yoke, and letting the oppressed 
go free. 

What has now been said respecting the 
duty of private slave-holders, applies 
with full force to the legislatures of the 



NOT TO BE COUNTENANCED. 73 

Southern States, for they are nothing else 
but the slave-holders acting through their 
accredited agents. 

We are now able. I trust, satisfactorily 
to answer the question so often asked : 
" What is the immediate duty of slave- 
holders ? " It is the duty of all who have 
in practice countenanced, abetted, and 
upheld the system of slavery, whether as 
private individuals or as legislatures, im- 
mediately to repent, and then to " bring 
forth fruits meet for repentance," as fast as 
is in the nature of things possible. All 
these fruits cannot be instantly exhi- 
bited. They must ])e developed, some 
immediately, and some gradually, 
according to circumstances. All are under 
immediate obligation to give up all property 
in their fellow-men, that is, to renounce 
for ever the right of buying, selling, hold- 
ing, and usin^^ them as personal chattels. 
All are under immediate obligation to re- 
store to their slaves the privileges of free- 



74 THE SLAVE SYSTEM 

merij so far as is in present circumstances 
practicable. All are under immediate ob- 
ligation to exert their influence for the en- 
tire abolition of the system of slavery in 
the manner which they shall, after pra^-er- 
ful and honest inquiry, judge wisest and 
best for all parties concerned. That all 
are under immediate obligation to manu- 
mit their slaves in legal form, cannot, in 
my opinion, be maintained. Of what value 
can free papers be to a slave, where the 
laws refuse to recognise him as free? 
where they assume the right, notwith- 
standing these papers, of seizing, and sell- 
ing him into remediless bondage? True, 
these iniquitous laws are perpetuated by 
the majority of the slave-holders. True, 
the master who cordially loves, and stre- 
nuously supports them, may plead them in 
self-justification, while he professes his 
vehement abhorrence of slavery in the ab- 
stract. Yet it is also true that the con- 
scientious master, who abhors the whole 



NOT TO BE COUNTENANCED. 75 

system, finds them a serious obstruction to 
his benevolent designs. Now, if we in- 
discriminately denounce all that sustain 
towards any of their fellow-men the legal 
relation of masters, whatever may be the 
obstacles thrown by others in the way of 
the legal dissolution of this relation, 
the slave-holder in heart will easily detect 
the fallacy of our arguments, and by occu- 
pying himself in their refutation^ will di- 
vert his mind from his own personal guilt ; 
while the honest and conscientious planter, 
who sincerely desires to learn and do his 
duty, finding himself unjustly accused, 
will be in danger of being alienated, em- 
bittered, and driven from us. 

Whatever specific course is marked out 
for the slave-holder, he can, if he chooses, 
easily evade his duty. Let a spirit of 
hearty repentance and sincere benevo- 
lence animate the Southern States, and let 
them, under the influence of this spirit, 
address themselves in earnest to the work 



76 ULTERIOR DUTIES OF 

of removing from their midst this enor- 
mous evil, and we may safely intrust to 
their judgment the details of emancipa- 
tion. With them resides the sole power, 
and upon them rests the obligation, to 
legislate on this subject. 



ULTERIOR DUTIES OF SLAVE-HOLDERS. 

I have shown that the system of slavery 
is SINFUL, and, therefore, not to be in any 
way countenanced or abetted. How the 
slave population is to be disposed of, is a 
separate question, and one of momentous 
interest to the United States. Slaves are 
not puncheons of rum, or barrels of ale, 
that can be emptied into the streets at any 
moment, with no injury to any but their 
owners. Neither is the system of slavery 
a distillery or a brewery that can be pulled 
down, or converted to some other purpose 
at pleasure. The parallel, then, between 



SLAVE-HOLDERS. 77 

the slave system and the traffic in xirdent 
spirits ouglit not to Ije pressed too far. Al- 
cohol is matter^ not iii'uid : it can claim no 
rights nor privileges ; it is indeed a '• nui- 
sance," which ought to be immediately- 
abated. But slaves are immortal minds, 
having interests temporal and eternal. 
They have a right to live, and, unless ex- 
terminated, will live, and increase, and 
multiply, to the end of time. How, then, 
shall they be disposed of? Shall they be 
colonized in Africa, or elsewhere ; or shall 
they be retained on their native soil as free 
laborers under suitable restraints ? I he- 
sitate not to affirm that the principle upon 
v/liich these questions are to be answered 
is EXPEDIENCY, Understanding by expedi- 
ency not that which subserves men's pre- 
judices and selfish interests, but that 
which promotes the best welfare of the 
community. Where God has expressly 
legislated, we have but one course to pur 
sue ; where he has only laid down general 
7 



7S rLTERIOR DUTIES OF 

principles, a careful consideration of pro- 
bable results becomes our rule of duty. 
Such is clearly the present case. The 
broad and glorious principles of God's 
Word decide that the whole system of 
slavery is sinful, and ought to be abolished. 
They decide, also, that it ought to be abo- 
lished in such a way as shall be most con- 
ducive to the welfare of all parties concern- 
ed. What that way is, they do not decide. 
It is left to the judgment of our Southern 
brethren. Inasmuch as we have been 
called upon to aid in one specific tvai/, it is 
neither impertinence nor officious inter- 
meddling in us, to attempt to decide these 
questions for ourselves. Into the details of 
emancipation, we do not wish to enter. 
These we cheerfully leave where they 
properly belong. If it can be clearly 
MADE OUT that the emancipation of the 
slaves at home upon any plan that would 
secure the accomplishment of the work in 
a definite and reasonably limited period of 



SLAVE-HOLDERS. 79 

time would prove the inevitable destruc- 
tion of both masters and slaves, or of ei- 
ther party ; then they ouo;ht to be comfort- 
ably provided for in Africa, or elsewhere, 
at whatever expense ; and we ought to be 
willing, as philanthropists, as Christians, 
andascitizensof the United States, to bear 
our share of the burden. But, unless this 
position can be sustained by solid argu- 
ments, we ought conscientiously to with- 
hold our countenance and support from a 
scheme which can never become practica- 
ble except under the pressure of extreme 
necessity, which involves a vast expendi- 
ture of labor and treasure, and which ex- 
poses more than two millions of colored 
men to all the hardships and perils of emi- 
gration across the wide Atlantic, from a 
temperate to a tropical climate, and from 
a civilized land to a land of hostile and 
treacherous barbarians. We may, in this 
latter case, patronise colonization for other 
reasons, but not as the remedy for slavery. 



80 ULTERIOR DUTIES OF 

Justice and candor require me to state 
that many of the most strenuous advo- 
cates of colonization (I may say all sober- 
minded men, at least at the North) consi- 
der the scheme of transporting the entire 
mass of our colored population to Africa^ 
as a wild and visionary project. They 
advocate the scheme principally on the 
ground of its beneficial influence upon 
Africa itself, and also of its salutary reac- 
tion upon the United States. 

Neither ought we, in any case, to patron- 
ise this scheme, for the purpose of reliev- 
ing our Southern brethren from the pres- 
sure of their surplus slave population, so 
that they shall thus be helped to defer re- 
pentance. Neither ought we, in niy opi- 
nion, to advocate it for the purpose of ena- 
bling conscientious slave-holders to get rid 
of their slaves, unless we intend to carry 
it throuo-h as an effectual remedv for the 
evil. If the ultimate resort must be eman- 
cipation of the slaves on their native soil. 



gLAVE-HOLDERS. 81 

the sooner the South sees and feels this 
truth, the belter. Let not the pious mas- 
ter, by his example, assist his fellow-citi- 
zens in keeping it out of sight. If he is 
disposed to send to Liberia a selection of 
the most virtuous and intelligent among 
his slaves, for the avowed purpose of aid- 
ing the colony, well and good. But let 
him not encourage fhe delusive idea that 
the slaves cannot be safely manumitted at 
home. He is under no necessity of sin- 
ning. If the laws forbid him to liberate 
his slaves in legal form, and provide for 
reducing them again, when thus liberated, 
into bondage, let him treat them as free- 
men, so far as lies in his power, and then 
exert his influence firmly, temperately, 
prayerfully, and perseveringly, for the ulti- 
mate abolition of the whole system. We 
ought either to take up the plan of coloni- 
zation for the avowed purpose of removing 
from our nation the colored people, (or at 
least the great mass of them,) and to make 
7* 



82 FLTteRIOR DFTlES OT 

thorough work of it, or we ought piibhcly, 
totally^ and for ever to divorce it from the 
question of abohtioii, and honestly say to 
our Southern brethren, " your ultimate re- 
sort must be home manumission." Then 
we may, if we please, patronise coloniza- 
tion upon the ground of its beneficial in- 
fluence upon Africa, and, perhaps, the 
reaction of that influence upon the United 
States. 

The question then to be decided is sim- 
ply this : Cannot the slaves be safehj 
tnamimitted at home 7 If not, then let 
us make a united effort at colonization. 
If they can, then let us rest the claims of 
the Colonization Society simply on its 
beneficial influence upon Africa : or, if 
any choose, upon this and the reaction of 
this influence upon the United States. 

Cannot the slaves he safely manumit- 
ted on their native soil ? The assertion 
has been incessantly made at the South, 
and re-echoed at the North, that such a 



SLAVE-HOLDERS. 



83 



measure would inevitably result in mas- 
sacres, bloodshed, and extermination. The 
proof of this assertion has been repeatedly- 
demanded, but has never yet been furnish- 
ed ; unless confident assertions, unsustain- 
ed either by the character of God's govern 
ment, the constitution of the human mind, 
or the universal experience of mankind, 
are proofs. Why should the substitution 
of the system of free for that of slave labor 
{by the masters themselves, be it remem- 
bered, a7id not by a foreign poiver) be fol- 
lowed by such disastrous consequences? 
The masters are not asked suddenly to 
release their slaves from all restraint ; to 
turn them loose at once upon society to 
wander in lawless hordes over the country, 
plundcrmg, pilfering, and murdering in 
their course. Interested demagogues have 
found it convenient to ascribe this mad 
scheme to prominent anti-slavery men, 
and then to get up a great excitement in 
opposing it. But not a solitary man at 



84 ULTERIOR DUTIES OF 

the North who possesses a particle of good 
sense or information, ever dreamed of 
abolishing slavery in this way. The 
manumitted slaves need not leave the 
plantations of their former masters. If 
humanely treated, what reason is there to 
suppose that they would be disposed so to 
do ? Ignorant and helpless as they are 
universally admitted to be, could they not 
be made to understand, with the help of a 
little kind explanation, the necessity of 
remaining under the guardianship of 
those who had been their masters? At 
all events the legislatures might im- 
pose UPON THEM WHAT RESTRA INTS THEY 

DEEMED NECESSARY. They might even 
require them to remam for a limited period 
of time on the plantations of their former 
proprietors, and in the meantime they 
might qualify them by a benevolent course 
of education for farther privileges. Re- 
straint, be it remembered, is not slavery. 
Slavery is the condition of slaves ; and 



SLAVE-HOLDERS. 85 

slaves are human beinofs " deemed, taken, 
reputed, and adjndo-ed to be chattels per- 
sonal, in the hands of their masters and 
possessors, to all intents and purposes 
whatsoever."' To be in this condition is 
to be in slavery, not to be under whole- 
some restraint. 

The manumission which we at the 
North advocate, is a voluntary manumis- 
sion on the part of the masters. A class 
of men among us have been loudly ac- 
cused of wishing to interfere with the rights 
of the masters, by effecting the abolition of 
slavery without their consent. How they 
would set about the accomplishment of 
such a preposterous and unconstitutional 
scheme it is difficult to conceive. We 
may safely affirm that the most ardent and 
sanguine among them never entertained 
even a distant idea of this quixotic enter- 
prise. The United States cannot consti- 
tutionally legislate on this subject except 
for the District of Columbia. But were it 



86 ULTERIOR DUTIES OF 

in their power to wrest the slaves out of 
the hands of the masters without their 
consent, disastrous consequences might 
then reasonably be expected to follow. In 
this case we might expect scenes of blood- 
shed and extermination, caused not by the 
genius of voluntary emancipation^ but 
by the genius of slavery^ arraying itself 
against the liberty of its subjects. All ar- 
guments against the safety of home aboli- 
tion drawn from the evil results, real or 
pretended, of compulsory emancipation, 
(as i\\ the British West India Isles.) are, 
therefore, utterly fallacious when applied 
to the United States. The question is not 
what would be the consequences were the 
slaves wrested by main force from the 
hands of their masters, but what would be 
the consequences were these masters, by 
their own voluntary act^ to liberate their 
slaves. 

Why should scenes of bloodshed follow ? 
Were our Southern brethren willing this 



SLAVE-HOLDERS. 87 

day to abolish their slave-laws, and to 
substitute in their place wholesome and 
equitable laws for the regulation and go- 
vernment of the colored people, what 
mighty convulsion would be the result? 
The Word of God, the constitution of hu- 
man nature, and the experience of all ages, 
testify, that to treat men with justice and 
benevolence is not the way to excite them 
to deeds of blood. The awful scenes of 
St. Domingo, be it remembered, were not 
the result of a voluntary act on the part of 
the masters manumitting their slaves. If 
there is a fanatical doctrine any where on 
this globe, it is the doctrine that by deny- 
ing to the slaves their unalienable rights 
they can be prevented from cutting their 
masters' throats. 

The system of slavery has been com- 
pared to a dam built across a river, which 
has caused the meadows above to be over- 
flowed. It is admitted that this dam is a 
nuisance which ought to be abated, but 



88 ULTERIOR DUTIES OF 

not too suddenly, lest the rush of waters 
should also injure the meadows lying he- 
low. If this comparison is designed to 
illustrate the folly of carrying out abstract 
principles of justice without regard to con- 
sequences, it certainly holds good. The 
dam ought not to be demolished so sud- 
denly as to inundate the meadows below. 
But, if the object of the similitude is to 
prove that the slaves could not this day be 
safely emancipated, were the masters dis- 
posed to set them free, it is defective ; for 
it has not yet been shown that were the 
dam broken down at once in the middle to 
its foundations, the waters icould overjloiu 
their hanks so as to do serious injury. 

The comparison may be, in my judg- 
ment, materially amended thus : 

The slave system is a huge dam thrown 
across a broad and deep river for the pri- 
vate advantage of its proprietors. It is 
composed of. enormous blocks of hewn 
granite, fastened together with massive 
iron bolts. The waters, impeded in their 



SLAVE-HOLDERS. O^ 

natural course, have already overflowed 
many thousands of acres of their neighbors' 
land, and are rapidly setting back into the 
neighboring villages. The inhabitants 
remonstrate with the builders. They 
reply, '• We admit that this dam is a great 
evil, abstractly considered ; yet, if we were 
instantly to demolish it, it would ruin every 
plantation for twenty miles below." Mean- 
time they keep at work making it longer 
and broader and higher. Might not their 
neighbors living above justly reply : We 
ask you first to stop building ; then to go 
to work in good earnest in the centre of 
the channel, and demolish it as fast as you 
can : were it so weak as to be in danger of 
being suddenly carried away by the pres- 
sure of water above upon the removal of a 
few props, we would then say: Take care; 
don't go too fast. But now we say : You 
are in no danger of precipitancy ; go to 
work with all your might, for you have an 
herculean task before you." 



90 DUTIES AND RIGHTS 



DUTIES AND RIGHTS OF NORTHERN 

MEN. 

These are the foUowinaf: 

1. To gain accurate information on 
the subject. 

The question of slavery is one of com- 
mon concern to the citizens of this repub- 
lic. The United States are "many mem- 
bers, yet but one body." They are so 
compacted together by their constitution, 
and })y their natural relations to each 
other, that, "if one member suffers, all 
the members suffer with it ; or, if one 
member is honored, all the members 
rejoice with it." It is not impertinence 
nor officious intermeddling in us to inves- 
tigate this question for ourselves. In so 
doing we must be careful to draw our 
information from authentic sources. If 
we rely on the ex parte statements of 
interested witnesses, we shall be certainly 



OF NORTHERN MEN. 91 

misled ; for m questions of this nature 
nothing is easier than to utter falsehood 
by speaking the truth. 

One man goes into the plantation of 
a pious and humane planter, who treats 
his slaves with parental kindness, and 
faithfully instructs them in the doctrines 
and duties of revelation. Forthwith he 
sits down and presents us with a glowing 
portraiture of Southern Slavery^ drawn 
exclusively from the materials which sur- 
round him, and well set off with bitter 
invectives against Northern fanatics and 
incendiaries, in which he is sure to betray 
his ignorance of their real motives, designs, 
and actions. 

Another is brought into contact with 
masters of a different character. He sees 
slaves of both sexes, in the presence of a 
promiscuous crowd, laid prostrate on the 
earth, their hands and their feet bound 
with cords, their backs bared to the lash, 
their flesh quivering and bleeding at every 



92 DUTIES AND RIGHTS 

Stroke, and all this at the caprice of an 
irresponsible individual. His blood boils 
within him, as well it may, at this dis- 
gusting scene of brutality ; and straight- 
way he sends on to the North his por- 
traiture of Southern Slavery^ where it is 
exhibited to the public as a precious 
jewel of truth, plentifully ornamented with 
hard names, like a gold ring set with dia- 
monds. One-sided views of slavery of 
each of the above characters have been 
published in our journals usque ad nau- 
seam. 

If we are to adopt this method of inves- 
tigation, there is an end to all certainty. 
The whole question of slavery becomes 
a perfect chaos " without form and void " 
enveloped in midnight darkness. The 
man who would arrive at correct conclu- 
sions himself, or guide others to correct 
conclusions, must take a different course. 
He must examine the system of slavery 
in its various tendencies, as they are actu- 



OF NORTHERN MEN. 96 

ally developed at the South, and likely to 
be farther developed. He has certainly a 
riorht to exhibit instances of extreme cru- 
elty as illustrations of one of its obvious 
tendencies. He has a right to inquire, 
and to ascertain if he can, how far the 
masters abuse the enormous legal powers 
which the slave-laws confer upon them; 
and to state the results of his investiga- 
tions. This will require great candor, 
and extensive personal observation. If 
he errs at all, he ought certainly to err on 
the side of charity, instead of stretching 
the truth respecting the cruelty of slave- 
holders to its utmost limits. 

2. To diffuse this information through 
the community. 

This may be done by private and social 
intercourse, by epistolary correspondence, 
by the circulation of " writings containing 
temperate and judicious discussions," and 
by public debates and addresses. The 
right of free inquiry is the inheritance of 
8* 



94 DUTIES AND RIGHTS 

every American citizen. He is at perfect 
liberty to discuss whatever subject he 
chooses in a peaceable manner, without 
asking- leave of any. Nor can he forfeit 
this invaluable right by his imprudence 
or intemperate zeal. If he slanders his 
neighbor, the law provides a remedy for 
the injured party, while it secures his 
future freedom of discussion unimpaired. 
Who does not know that the pretext 
which tyrants have always made use of 
for muzzhng the press is its "seditious 
and incendiary character"? As Ameri- 
can citizens, then, we are solemnly bound 
to guard against all encroachments upon 
this inestimable right, under whatever 
pretext. 

But we have special claims to the pri- 
vilege of discussing the question of Ame- 
rican slavery. The case stands thus : 

Our Southern brethren declare a por- 
tion of their fellow-men to be " chattels 
personal in the hands of their masters and 



OF NORTHERN MEN. 95 

possessors to all intents and purposes 
whatsoever." 

They authorize their masters to sepa- 
rate for ever husband and wife, parent and 
child, whenever it suits their convenience. 

They deny them the privilege of being 
parties to a judicial tribunal in any species 
of action against their masters, how atro- 
cious soever the injuries they may have 
received from them. 

They authorize their masters to supply 
them with such food and raiment only, 
both as to quantity and quality, as they 
shall think proper or find convenient. 

They deprive them of all rights to hold 
property. " A slave can do nothing, pos- 
sess nothing," (not even his wife and 
children.) "but which must belong, in 
point of law, to his master." 

They authorize their masters to sell, 
mortgage, or lease them at pleasure. 

They authorize them to be sold by pro- 
cess of law for the satisfaction of the 



96 DUTIES AND RIGHTS 

debts of their masters living or deceasedj^ 
at the suit of creditors. 

They authorize their masters to intrust 
all these de.'poic powers to any agent or 
agents whom they may choose to appoint. 

They forbid their masters to manumit 
them, except in certain special cases, which 
must, in the nature of things, be of rare 
occurrence. 

They deprive them of the right of trial 
by jury. 

They seal up God's Holy Bible, by 
forbidding, under heavy penalties, their 
being taught to read. 

All these accumulated injuries they 
make their innocent offspring heirs to 
" for ever hereafter." 

And when these injured men, whom 
God created " free and equal," escape from 
under the oppressive weight of these un- 
righteous laws into the Northern States, 
they call upon us to deliver them up 
again into a system of bondage which we 



OF NORTHERN MEN. 97 

Utterly loathe and abhor ; and our magis- 
trates are solemnly bound by their oath 
of office to comply with the demand ! 

Moreover, if these slaves should rise up 
in rebellion against their oppressors,* we 
are bound by the constitution of the Uni- 
ted States to spill our blood, and expend 
our treasures, in assisting their masters to 
regain their dominion over them : — yes, 
we are bound to hazard our fortunes and 
our lives in sustaining a system which 
authorizes men to be bought and sold 
like horses and mules, and which forbids 
them to read God's Holy Word ! ! 

These are the demands of our Southern 
brethren. They claim our co-operation, 
according to the constitution of the United 
States, in sustaining this system of oppres- 
sion EVEN UNTO BLOOD ; and when we 
attempt to remonstrate Avith them, they 

* In the event of a foreign war, audi an insurrection is 
highly probable, especially should it be encouraged by 
the enemy. 



98 DUTIES AND RIGHTS 

turn and say, "This is a delicate ques- 
tion : it belongs to us alone : you have no 
right to meddle with it: as sure as you 
do, the Union will be dissolved : fanatics, 
beware " ! ! ! 

Northern men understand their rights 
on this subject, and they are unalterably 
determined to maintain them. 

3. To " abn . to convince our fellow- 
citizens''^ in the SoiUh '-'•by arguments 
addressed to their iinderstandiiigs and 
consciences^ that slave-holding is a hein- 
ous sin in the sight of God ; and that 
the duty^ safety^ and interests of all con- 
cerned^ require '' that the whole system 
should be abolished, without expatriation^ 
in the speediest and best manner pos- 
sible. 

" Arguments addressed to the under- 
standings and consciences of men" (the 
only weapons which we at the North 
have a right to use) are no interference 
with their " exclusive rights ; " otherwise 



OF NORTHERN MEN. 99 

it is hiffh time for us to put a stop by legis- 
lative enactments to the discussion of the 
temperance question in every shape ; since 
the manufacturers, venders, and consum- 
ers of ardent spirits hold in their own 
hands the "exclusive right,'' so far as man 
is concerned, to cease from these prac- 
tices. If anti slavery men at the North 
have assailed their slave-holding breth- 
ren in the South with uncourteous, un- 
christian, and slanderous language, let 
them be rebuked for this sin ; but let not 
the ridiculous charge of attempting to 
legislate for the South, or to interfere 
with their "domestic policy," be preferred 
against them. 

In the present excited state of the com- 
munity it seems to be almost impossible to 
maintain a free intercourse with the South 
on this momentous question. I hope, for 
the honor of human nature and for the 
welfare of our nation, that it will not 
always be so ; but that both parties, laying 



100 MANNER IN WHICH THE 

aside all opprobrious epithets, will come 
to the consideration of the subject with 
manly dignity, courage, candor, and bene- 
volence ; remembering thai they are acting 
for gfenerations of unborn millions. Such 
a kind, free, and Christian interchange of 
feelings and views on this solemn ques- 
tion, is a "Consummation"' of moral influ- 
ence •• devoutly to be wished for." 



MANNER IN WHICH THE QUESTION 
SHOULD BE DISCUSSED. 

This is of immense importance. If 
there is on the face of the globe a difficult 
and delicate question, demanding the ut- 
most wisdom, prudence, and firmness on 
the part of those who discuss it, this is 
that question. It involves immense inte- 
rests, highly excited feelings, and invete- 
rate prejudices. Let that man who han- 
dles it with rude and reckless contempt of 



(irrsTios 



will DOC bold him ^■ 

ing are some of 

to reguiaie our G.>_^^^.. 

SQbiecL 

I. it if mw dvUf t§ 

It does DoC become : 
gxwd caose to get an^ry 
moathed ainse an ' 
These weapons be. 
who haTe exhaosDei 
aifumeDts. It ^ 
knowkds^. r -' 
to heap o: 
handr: 



hat JeboTah 
The ibliov- 

■B-hich ough: 



10 



■nh t: 



leds!^ taeir exceiiences wnfi 
to receire :^ 



102 MANNER IN WHICH THE 

and to be rewarded for all our well meant 
efforts with reproach, vjithout losing our 
temper ; — does require no ordinary amount 
of holiness. 

2. It is our duty to maintain a spirit 
of uniform kindness. 

My views on this point are so perfectly 
expressed by President Edwards that I will 
take the liberty to transcribe his words. 

" The bitter root of censoriousness must 
be totally rooted out, as we would prepare 
the way of the Lord. It has nourished 
and upheld many other things contrary 
to the humility, meekness, and love of the 
gospel. The minds of many have receiv- 
ed an unhappy turn, in some respects, 
with their religion. There is a certain 
point or sharpness, a disposition to a kind 
of warmth, that does not savor of that 
meek, lamb-like, sweet disposition that 
becomes Christians. Many have now been 
so long habituated to it, that they do not 
know how to get out of it ; but we must 



QUESTION SHOULD BE DISCUSSED. 103 

get out of i^, the point and sharpness must 
be bhinted, and we must learn another 
way of manifesting our zeal for God." — 
Edwards on Revivals^ Part IV. Sec. 4. 
Asrain : '• It has been the manner of 
some persons to speak of almost every 
thing they see amiss in others, in the 
most harsh, severe, and terrible language. 
It is frequent of them to say of others' 
opinions, or conduct, or advice ; or of their 
coldness, their silence, their, caution, their 
moderation, and their prudence, and many 
other things that appear in them, that they 
are from the devil or from hell : that such 
a thing is devilish, or hellish, or cursed ; 
and that such persons are serving the 
devil, or the devil is in them, and they are 
soul-murderers, and the like ; so that the 
words devil and hell are almost con- 
tinually in their mouths. And such kind 
of language they will commonly use, not 
only towards wicked men, but towards 
them that thev themselves allow to be the 



104 MANNER IN WHICH THE 

true children of God, and also towards 
ministers of the gospel, and others that 
are very much their superiors. And they 
look upon it a virtue and very high 
attainment thus to behave themselves. 
" Oh," say they, " we must be plain-hearted 
and bold for Christ, we must declare war 
against sin wherever we see it, we must 
not mince the matter in the cause of God, 
and when speaking for Christ. 

*' What a strange device of the devil is 
here to overthrow all Christian meekness 
and gentleness, and even all show and 
appearance of it, and to defile the mouths 
of the children of God, and to introduce 
the language of common sailors among 
the followers of Christ, under a cloak of 
high sanctity, and zeal, and boldness for 
Christ ] And it is a remarkable instance 
of the weakness of the human mind, and 
how much too cuunino^ the devil is for us. 

" The grand defense of this way of talk- 
in sf is that thev sav no more than what is 



QUESTION SHOULD BE DISCUSSED. 105 

true ; they only speak the truth without 
mincing the matter. 

"But it is a grand mistake that we may 
commonly use, concerning one another, 
all such language as represents the worst 
of each other, according to strict truth." 
— Ibidem.) Sect. 1. 

This hard and censorious spirit he very 
justly ascribes to spiritual pride. That 
anti-slavery men at the North have greatly 
displeased God by indulging it, cannot be 
denied. Nor is the goodness of their 
cause any apology. For if it is, then 
Satan himself may set about the work of 
demolishing heathen temples, and charge 
all who presume to object to his course 
with being the abettors of idolatry, because 
he is on the side of God and of truth. 

In thus frankly censuring these men, 
where I think that the cause of abolition 
requires it, let me not for a moment be 
understood as joining in the absurd hue 
and cry which has been raised against 
9* 



106 MANNER IN WHICH THE 

them by designing men at the South and 
elsewhere, who wish to " ride in the whirl- 
wind and direct the storm," and in which 
I regret to say that many good men have 
joined. 

Because they have exposed the heinous 
guilt of the slave system, (not always, it 
must be confessed, in the kindest spirit,) 
they have been accused of wishing to 
excite the slaves to deeds of insurrection 
and blood.* 

Because they have earnestly remon- 
strated with the Southern States for per- 
petuating the system of slavery, they have 
been charged with attempting to wrest 

* The man that would encourage the slaves to rise up 
in rebellion against their masters deserves to be hanged. 
We cannot, however, consent to stop the discussion of this 
question at the North for fear that the slaves should disco- 
ver that we consider their masters guilty for holding them 
in bondage. Publicadons addressed to the reason and 
consciences of the masters are not "seditioiLs" or "incen- 
diary" in any proper sense of the word. If they are, 
then all efforts to persuade those who are injuring their 
fellow-men to repent, are "seditious" and " ipccndiary." 



QUESTION SHOULD BE DISCUSSED. 107 

their slaves out of their hands by legisla- 
tive enactments. 

Because they have maintained the duty 
and expediency of immediately abolishing 
the slave system, and substituting in its 
place wise and equitable laws for the 
regulation of the colored people which 
shall recognise them as freemen, they 
have been accused of wishing to have 
them all turned loose uipon society a', 
once without restraint. 

Because they have plainly pointed out 
the ruinous tendency of the slave system 
in its influence upon the United States, 
they have been accused of wishing to 
dissolve the Union.* 



* It has been the poHcy of certain prominent men in 
die Southern States to carry llicir obnoxious measures, by 
holding- up in terrorem a dissolution of the Union. When 
Missouri apphedfor admission to the Union, the non-slave- 
holding- states wished to exclude slavery from the territery ; 
but these men predicted a dissolution of the Union : so the 
North compromised. The same argument was used to 
procure a repeal of the tariff: and now we are solemnly 



108 



MANNER IN WHICH THE 



They have been branded as "incendia- 
ries," " fanatics," and "traitors," while all 
proof of these grievous charges has been 
carefully withheld. 

They have been held up to public exe- 
cration as the offscouring of all things 
as "pestilent fellows" and "movers "of 

'Z^l^' T"" *^S-'-"™^ "■^' 'h- will inevi,.bly 
alio* .hcmseUes ,o be awed into silence by this aro-ument, 

quesnon of local m.eres, after ano.ber, umil ,bey are 
rcqu-red lo yield every thing. 

The Union is dear to us at the North. We do not wish 
.o have ,t l-roken^ If i, is ,o be dissolved, le, i, be the ac. 

Ae earl™'h';1 ""' °"/"^ """ ^^"^^ ">e nations of 
the earth shall demand of them the reason, let them 
turn and say, "We converted a portion of c^ur fe w 
men ,n,o chattels personal we bought, sold, mortpted 
.nd leased them at pleasure: we deprived them by U^ of 
Ae prtvtlege of reading God's Word : when they escaped 
fromundero.rdomiuioninto,heN„r,hernStatcs,lecaId 
and when they earnestly (and sometimes rudely and 



QUESTION SHOILD BE DISCUSSED. 109 

sedition," throug-Iiout all the United States ; 
thoiiofh all candid men at the North, who 
have had an opportunity of knowincr and 
appreciating their characters, are com- 
pelled by stubborn facts to admit that 
they are honest and good men. 

And yet these calumniators of anti- 
slavery men are preaching against ca- 
kimny — with beams in their own eyes, 
they are endeavoring to pull out the motes 
from their neighbors' eyes ! 

3. It is our duty to maintain a tolerant 
spirit. 

Men that are agreed with their brethren 
on the fundamental point that the slave 
system is sinful and not to be in any way 
courjtenanced or abetted, are not to be 
hardly judged or censured because they 
differ from them as to the best mode of 
combating the evil. Neither are they to 
be denounced as timid, over-prudent,^ va- 
cillating fence-men, because they r-annot 
clear, at a sino-le bound, everv " middle 



110 MANNER IN WHICH THE 

wall of partition " that others may think 
proper to build. Where God draws his 
line of duty we have no right to hesitate : 
we must keep wholly on the prescribed 
side. But where uninspired men draw 
their line, we are at perfect liberty to 
stand on either side, or directly upon it, 
according to our views of duty. 

4. It is our duty to make the slavery 
question svbordinate to the gospel. 

It should not be made the all-absorbing 
topic of conversation and discussion, so 
as completely to fill the whole horizon of 
our thoughts, and mix itself with every 
thing we say and do. The gospel of 
Christ alone can claim this high pre- 
eminence. 

5. It is our imperative duty to give 
this momentous subject a place in our 
prayers. 

The slave system is undoubtedly the 
most enormous evil under which our 
nation o^roans. It lies at the foundation 



(QUESTION SHOULD BE DISCUSSED. Ill 

t)f the unhappy sectional jealousy which 
has existed for so many years between the 
North and the South. 

It is a vine of Sodom, whose grapes are 
gall, and whose clusters are wormwood ; 
its poisonous branches are rapidly over- 
shadowing the length and the breadth of 
our land. Until it is finally eradicated 
from the soil of these United States, it will 
be to the whole nation a " root of bit- 
terness" springing up to trouble us; 
and it will, if it is not speedily extirpated, 
assuredly expose us to the righteous dis- 
pleasure of that God who is no respecter 
of persons. Human strength will not 
avail to effect its removal from our midst. 
We must have the help of God, or we 
are undone, and for this help he will be 
inquired of by his people. 



112 DUTY OF 



DUTY OF THE CHURCHES. 

It is the duty of the churches to testify 
the truth respecting the system of slavery. 
It is true that it is a heinously guilty sys- 
tem, not to be in any way countenanced 
or abetted ; and they ought unequivocally 
to say so. The man who at the present 
day maintains his right to buy, sell, or hold 
his fellow-men as chattels personal, is, in 
my view, unworthy of the fellowship of 
the saints. Were the responsibility of 
deciding whether such a man should be 
admitted to the membership of a church 
over which I presided, or rejected ; with my 
present views of duty, I should certainly 
exclude him as guilty of an evident immo- 
rality. Yet, considering the numerous 
and formidable embarrassments which the 
laws of most of the slave-holding states 
have wickedly thrown in the way of those 
masters who are willing to emancipate 



THE CHURCHEg. 113 

their slaves, I would not break fellow- 
ship with a Christian brother, simply 
because he held the legal relation of mas- 
ter to a portion of his fellow-men, where 
I had reasonable evidence that he honestly 
desired to know and do his duty; — evi- 
dence, I mean, derived not from his words, 
but from his actions. My views of the 
duty of slave-holders in such circum- 
stances have been given above. 

I have now given an honest exhibition 
of my views on this question. In so 
doing I have felt under all the solemn 
responsibilities of a witness called to g-ive 
testimony in a case involving the temporal 
and eternal interests of millions " born 
and to be born." Should I hereafter see 
reason for altering these views in any 
respect, I hold myself under solemn obliga- 
tion to the cause of truth to do so with 
frankness and candor. 

May the God of our fathers guide all 
concerned in the discussion of this mo- 
10 



114 DUTY OF THE CHURCHEfl. 

mentous subject into such views and con- 
duct as shall be acceptable in his siorht. 
With Iiina are our destinies. His hot dis- 
pleasure can wither us in a moment. His 
wrath we can no more withstand than the 
towering oak can withstand the red light- 
nings of heaven. He has but to speak, and 
the sun of our prosperity which has risen 
with such splendor, will set to rise no- 
more. Ohj that we might feel this solemn 
truth I 



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